Can Liverpool write off a bad day – or did Arsenal defeat reveal critical flaws?

With three minutes of the seven added on left to play, Alisson Becker wafted a pass out to the left flank. There was no purple shirt there and the ball drifted out aimlessly for a throw-in. As a moment it was nothing; as a moment of football it was everything. The home support cheered and jeered it in equal measure, as Liverpool were left to rue how it simply summed up their day of ineptitude.

may not want to hear it, but they and title fight. An eventual 3-1 win for the Gunners means the gap is down to two points between the pair. But that number matters less than another: the gap between is top, and Manchester City.